Wine & Women: Ladies Wine & Design 1st Birthday

On Wednesday evening I headed out the the Ladies Wine & Design 1st Birthday bash. Ladies Wine & Design is an initiative to bring creative females together and you can read about it in one of my previous posts here. 

The event was hosted by The Biscuit Factory and we were greeted with a glass of wine on entrance (obvs) and give a name sticker with an assigned letter.  We then were taken through to the Factory Kitchen which is the restaurant section of the gallery. The assigned letter corresponded with the table we were to it at. This was a great way to get us interacting out of our usual 'friend groups.' 

We were introduced to the evening by founder of LWD Newcastle, Juli Vignette. She explained to those who had never attended a LWD event before what it's all about and the idea behind the events. Then we were told our first activity as to design a bottle of wine inspired by all of the women at our tables. We had to design the label, come up with a name & tagline, ingredients (strength, wine, sass and more amazing stuff!) and our target audience. This was such a fun and creative way for us all to get to know each other! 

We then had a little break for food (omg delicious) supplied by Factory Kitchen. Vegetarian banquet which was fit for a queen! I'll let the photos speak for themselves....

After food, we regathered again for our quiz! The quiz was in 3 parts of quotes, songs including the word 'lady' and then cropped images of famous women throughout the years. We thought we'd totally nailed this one and had it done super quick - only to find out we'd been given the answer sheet! All the women in the room found this utterly hilarious as did we. 

The winners of the table got presented with their prize of a lovely illustrated book called "Great Women in History." So appropriate and thoughtful! 

This was the end of the activities so we got a chance to network with the other tables, enjoy the awesome (female of course) @telstarrrrr ! There was women from all different areas of the creative sector of different ages which makes me so happy! Ladies Wine & Design doesn't discriminate on gender or occupation. If you're looking to broaden your creative network of lovely ladies, please check it out, give them a follow on Facebook & Instagram and try and get along to one of their next events. You'll have a blast - promise! 

Professional shots: Marion Botella Photography 

Female Force: Ladies Wine & Design Event

The life of a independent designer can be a lonely journey at times, so cultivating your own tribe and creative community can be important. Last Wednesday, I went along to my first Ladies Wine & Design Event.

I had heard about this event from other creatives, but was yet to get along for myself. Just after New Year, a friend/fellow creative - Ashley Willerton reminded me about this concept again! Initially I thought it was a new piece of info to my brain but then I'd remembered I'd seen illustrator, Laura Sheldon post about previous events. 

So when I seen the Facebook event posted online, I signed up for tickets as it is a small group so tickets are limited. Ladies Wine & Design is now a worldwide concept which was set up by graphic designer, Jessica Walsh. She had recognised there was a gap in the creative industry for female creatives. These creative meet ups help offer mentor ship and widen our networks. The initiative has spread to 130 countries and still growing.

This specific event was named "Making the switch to digital' with guest speaker Dani Stone from JUMP Agency. She shared hr jorney and that her original path as a graphic designer was a distant twinkle from where she is now in the digital world.

Her creative journey started as a graphic designer with a very tactile start using ink pens. Then when studying at university, the course was a lot more focused on digital design which she wasn't sure how that would sit with her style & techniques.

Her next step was as a junior designer in an agency and how that was combined with web design. She noticed there was a gap in the market and in her role for user experience. When building websites, this is an integral part of the design process. How we use websites depends on the reason we're using them, the journey we take and outcome we're trying to achieve. Dani explained that because of this, each project really is it's own path and not one website design is the same for this reason. So interesting!

We got the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the topic which was a lovely way for us to chat and network without pressure as we already had a topic.

Did I mention there was wine? Oh, and cheese? What could be better than wine, cheese and a small group of like minded ladies to chat with for an evening?! These meet ups are such a lovely way to get to know creatives in your area and just meet new people in general. Working and/or running a creative business as a female is a small minority so rising up through the male dominated work world, this really can help us to find our own voices. I've always loved networking, collaborating, getting in the mix so this was totally for me.

You can follow Ladies Wine & Design Newcastle over on Facebook & Instagram for more info on upcoming events...

 On my way home, I passed Castle Fine Art and had to take a minute to take in this neon Bowie beauty! They've always got quirky art on display and used to see the display change a lost as I would pass on my daily commute. I still remember seeing the Simon Claridge pieces just after mine arrived!